the transformation code | transform. | september 2011
9/13/11 11:00 AM
Read this version online: http://transform.transformativechange.org/files/journal/201109.html Download printable PDF version: http://transform.transformativechange.org/files/print/201109.pdf This month's transform.: http://transform.transformativechange.org/
welcome
what's new Soweto's Legacy
"We have a powerful potential in our youth, and we must have the courage to change old ideas and practices so that we may direct their power toward good ends." —Mary McLeod Bethune September is commonly the month that kids go back to school, leaves in the Northern hemisphere begin turning from green to gold, and harvest is on the mind of farmers. For most centuries, youth have been taken for granted. From Hammurabi's Code to the Industrial Revolution, children have been treated with very little, if any, respect. But this is a new era. We have come to see the beauty and value of youth, that our influence on young people determines our future and their future. This month we're taking a look at the wide open potential that young people bring to social change work in all forms: activism, art, and spirituality. We celebrate events like the International Day of Peace and Yoga Month and gear up for SIT for Change this month with the hope that those who take up our work after we can't, will see, bring, and do what we didn't.
When the word Soweto pops up in the popular consciousness, two things that are seemingly extreme can come to mind. Soweto is the place where students led protests [image: Legacy Logo]
against the Apartheid South
African government in the late 1980s and early 1990s. A hub of revolutionary activity, it is also one of the places with the least amount of educational opportunities and support for its youth. Read more... Learn more about We Believe & Darryl Arnold Pitt
in SIGHT Adora Svitak | What Adults Can Learn from Kids
"The Transformation Code" based on design of The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle
Child prodigy Adora Svitak reminds adults of the importance of childish thinking. Her witty explorations of bold ideas, creativity, and support for dreams now make her a leading voice in the American education movement and a TED Talk pioneer. How do we truly
the transformation code: how deep change happens http://transform.transformativechange.org/files/journal/201109.html
listen to the voices of youth and create a more inspiring future? Listen to this speaker to find out! Read more... Listen to Adora Svitak's talk
Page 1 of 7
the transformation code | transform. | september 2011
INcite with angel Kyodo williams
9/13/11 11:00 AM
Read Kahlil Gibran's "On Children" Subscribe to CXC on YouTube
Over the past year, I've been making the sometimes painful transition from working harder to working smarter, often against the grain of long-established habits instilled by ideas about work ethics and the meaning we assign being at some work "place" doing work "things" in a work "way." I'm all good with taking time off...what I need is not having a great divide between the two. At the moment, I take advantage of technology to build a bridge to something altogether different. I take more and more working vacations, or workations. This workation, I read The Talent Code (Bantam Dell, 2009) in which author Daniel Coyle frames a "code" for talent. This code consists of three elements. Though he presents them in a slightly different order, I offer them in chronologically: "ignition," instigating motivation fuel "deep practice," the act of installing natural broadband and, "master coaching," building the skills in others
We're at a great place in many ways and yet, there's something that hasn't yet clicked—there are still energy leaks that allow momentum that we gain (think: the herculean effort of synergistic collaboration generated for Obama's election) to peter out in such a way that it feels like we're starting from scratch again and again. Over the next few months, I'll look at some of the barriers we experience—some known and acknowledged, others not so much —and by the end, we just might have something we can apply with precision to all aspects of the work we do for change to get better results, more predictably and more consistently, that build on each other and are sustained over longer periods of time. That like clockwork, in a phrase: we make more effective movements. ITHS The Talent Code's catchphrase is "Greatness Isn't Born. It's Grown. Here's How." Through myriad discussions that he revisits over and over again, probably the most important gift Coyle offers is to liberate the notion of talent from mysterious and amorphous ideas that leave us in a gray space of some kind of magic that only certain lucky people possess and therefore you either have it or you don't and you go the way of the rest of the lemmings, pre-determined to live out an unsatisfactory life. He unpacks, reframes and then repackages talent and hands it back to us as what it should be rightfully understood as: skill. What's great about that is we're generally in agreement that skill isn't pre-existing; it can be taught and, once taught, it can be grown. The proposition here is that we have what we need and who we need. Then what's tripping http://transform.transformativechange.org/files/journal/201109.html
in TIME WEST COAST fearlessMeditation I | Practice of the Body Youth Performance Dance Company Auditions EAST COAST Youth Rally for Action The Impact of Poverty on Education Immigration and the Changing Face of Metropolitan America SOUTHWEST Alliance for Latinitas Safe Kids Car Seat Check MIDWEST Celebrate the Harvest | Fall 2011 Conference The Revolution of Love | 8th Day Center for Justice Annual Event SOUTHEAST A Taste of the Stone House | 4th Anniversary Open House Children Sexual Abuse Prevention Training INTERNATIONAL Mondragon Seminar and Tour Exploring Oneness Through Breath, Movement, and Rhythm
in the MONEY Want a Grant? Call Me.
How do you go about getting your grants? Tori O'NealMcElrath says the most important thing you can do is call the foundation you're interested in. As much as you might want to believe that grants are awarded simply due to the fit of the program and the excellence of the application, it simply isn't true. Read more... Read more about Nonprofit 101
in the CENTER Page 2 of 7
the transformation code | transform. | september 2011
9/13/11 11:00 AM
us up? ITHS or...It's The How, Stupid. Time to get to the how.
2011 fearlessYoga Tour | fearlessYoga Moving Forward
If this were a book, I'd make the catchphrase "Movements Aren't Stumbled Upon. They're Generated. Here's How." The central concept The Talent Code asserts is to define skill in this way: "Skill is myelin insulation that wraps neural circuits and that grows according to certain signals." It succinctly states that "...the story of skill and talent is story of myelin." Mye-what? The short story of myelin is that for a long time we've focused on neurons and the firing of their circuits being key to making things happen. Which is still true, but that firing is like a light switch: it's either on or off. If it's off, nothing happens; if it's on at the wrong time, it doesn't matter. Turns out the neurons are held within an infrastructure that was long referred to as just "white matter" [ref]. Among other things, the white matter contains myelin. And because myelin is literally insulation that wraps around the neural circuits, it keeps the energy of those firing circuits from leaking. Up to 3000 times improved information processing for better results, more predictably and more consistently, that build on each other and are sustained over longer periods of time. In a word, more effective.
On the evening of August 11, 2011, the fearlessYoga Tour kicked off at CXC (Center for Transformative Change). Not [image: fearlessYoga Logo]
just an ordinary informational
evening nor open house, those in attendance experienced the signature fearlessYoga Warrior Series Flow firsthand as taught by... Read more... 4th Annual SIT for Change Global Virtual Event SIT, Stand, Meditate, Do Yoga from wherever you are and Take a Stand, SIT for Change. SIT for Change is all virtual this year. Transformative Change's awareness campaign that supports social change activists and their organizations launches its fourth annual sit-a-thon October 22, 2011. Read more... Learn more... Sign up...
from the FIELD
More than being able to do stuff, skill means stuff happens when it matters. Skill is the right stuff at the right time.
Mark Lilly | Yoga for Young People Mark Lilly formed Street Yoga a
Three Keys to More Effective Movement When I think about such a code in movement terms, I see three familiar things:
few years before yoga exploded as a practice that anyone might be encouraged to take up. He wanted to stop the rate at which young people were
Motivation—what Coyle calls "ignition"—requires energy passion and commitment, which are most often put in play by having locked into a powerful vision of our ideal selves and future around which we organize and energize.
entering a cycle of poverty and homelessness that was difficult, if not impossible, for them to break. So he gathered some yoga teachers and started working with homeless youths. Read more...
From master coaching, we gain the endurance we need to carry movements through temporal illusions so we can weather innumerable Tea Parties and understand the setbacks they cause as mere moments in political time. Movements may look like they suddenly "spring" out of nowhere, but it's mentorship provided by our elders that keeps us on course. Being able to grow stables of "talent" in the form of inspiring leaders, strategic organizers and damn good people is sustainability that matters.
Read more about Street Yoga Read the Street Yoga Blog Video: How Yoga Heals Video: Mark Lilly & Seane Corn
inner PRACTICE Perfecting Spiritual Balance Finding balance within ourselves
Vision, Practice & Endurance In the end, there are no surprises as to what we need to make movements work. In some configuration our current movements have had all three things but haven't had them altogether.
is a tricky business. Lean too far over into blame and you fall. Stand too rigidly in how things should be and you fall again. [image: Ove Tøpfer]
http://transform.transformativechange.org/files/journal/201109.html
Practicing equanimity, practicing
Page 3 of 7
the transformation code | transform. | september 2011
9/13/11 11:00 AM
Much adieu has been made about the Arab Spring, but while its scale is impressive and initial impact admirable, upon reflection it
being right where we are and letting go of how, what if,
has thus far been plagued with the same thing that stymies our movements here at home: (perceived) lack of coherence of the
of equanimity. Gil Fronsdal and Sayadaw U Pandita
elements needs to transform an uprising into a truly sustained movement. Enough of the right stuff at the right time. Next time we'll look at what gets in the way of skill and what we
and why let's us embrace the moment to moment grace explain how this is so. Read more...
outer ACTION
can do about.
Youth Is Our DESTINY Anyone who's been around the
We need more than just a Spring, we need Summer, Fall and Winter too.
Bay Area for any amount of time has heard of the Destiny Arts Program. And for those of you
Let's make movement-making a skill.
who haven't, don't feel left out, [image: courtesy
—yours in truth, aKw
read on...
Destiny Arts]
Founded by Kate Hobbs, Sarah Crowell, and Sifu Anthony Daniels, Destiny Arts (which stands for DeEscalation Skills Training Inspiring Nonviolence in
dedicated to all the People that strive on behalf of our humanity.
Youth) has been inspiring youth, their families, and communities since 1988. Through a range of artistic
angel Kyodo williams, the "change angel," is Founder Emeritus of Center for Transformative Change. She now
and physical expression (from flash mobs to hip-hop dance theatre), Destiny teaches...
serves as a Senior Fellow and Director of Vision. A social visionary and leading voice for transformative social change, she is the
Read more...
author of the critically-acclaimedBeing Black: Zen and the Art of Living With Fearlessness and Grace .
Read the Destiny Arts Newsletter
Blog: new Dharma: live, love & lead from the heart Facebook: Like angel here Twitter: Follow angel for tweets of wisdom on Change
Learn more about Destiny Arts Watch the Destiny Arts Flash Mob
social CHANGE An Education in Mindfulness
Web: http://angelkyodowilliams.com
Three things are needed to be a good student 1) Show up to class
angel Kyodo williams' next public talk: Thursday, September 15th @ CXC
2) Do your assignments and 3) Be mindful. According to the research folks at Mindful Schools (MS) have
newDharma Talk The Six Paramitas
As we enter the 27-Days of Change the six paramitas represent not just ideas about how we can best do things, but pure intentions to live our lives transformed. We all have a "head" way of thinking about these virtues, effort, patience, generosity.... But listen here and begin to understand how to hold them with great intention, letting go of what you believe they mean.
done, being mindful can make a huge difference for kids in the classroom: They develop more empathy, pay better attention in class and get better grades. And they carry those skills with them after they leave school. Read more... Read More About Mindful Schools Check Out the Mindful Schools Brochure
in the MIND Distortion Colored Glasses
"Do you understand the difference between ordinary giving and
We are very good at believing our
transcendental giving? With ordinary giving, you get to do the giving. With transcendental giving, you don't. It's as simple as that.
own stories. We believe we are
http://transform.transformativechange.org/files/journal/201109.html
Superman; we believe that no one
Page 4 of 7
the transformation code | transform. | september 2011
9/13/11 11:00 AM
The giving still happens, but there's no separation in that act. There's not, Oh, that guy needs something from me, and so I'm
loves us; we believe that everything will be okay. Most of
going to give it to him and doesn't that make me great. It falls away. The quarter or dollar leaves your hand and simply is passed
the stories we tell ourselves are our own self-
on and there's no residue of reaction left behind. You just keeping moving in your life without fixation on "the you" that gave or even
longer reflect who we are. Everything looks broken,
a fixation on "the him" that needed something...It all dissipates; it all dissolves into just what was called for..."
perpetuated BS. We keep looking through lenses that no busted, dismal, horrible, terrifically impossible... Read more... fearless Meditation is a 3-part signature series that
Listen to The Six Paramitas
teaches practical meditation within a social justice
Read The Six Paramitas More newDharma Talks
framework. It's offered for no charge for agents of social change.
"the best workshop i've ever taken. radically changed my work." fearless Meditation I:
activists, allies & agents of change Sarah Crowell | The Politics of Dancing
Sarah Crowell has taught dance, theater and violence prevention to youth and adults for over 20 years. She has run programs at Destiny Arts Center since 1990 where she currently serves as Artistic Director. Sarah received 9 California Arts Council Artist in [image: courtesy Sarah Residency grants for her work at Destiny and a Crowell] National Endowment for the Arts grant to author a curriculum guide for artists working with teens called...
October 7, 2011 & every 1st Friday | 7pm
in the BODY Twelve Months of Abhaya (fearless) Yoga | Savasana Known as the most difficult posture of all, savasana (sha-
VAH-sana) , corpse posture asks us to release completely. [image: chandra]
Releasing completely is indeed a
difficult task and is especially challenging for those of us working towards social justice. Read more...
Sarah Crowell has been dancing since she was a child and, being from a family of activists, knew that she would grow up and do something related to social change--she'd always hoped that she'd be able to connect it with dance. So it shouldn't surprise anyone that she works with Destiny Arts, the organization that combines dance... Read more... Sarah Crowell & the Rex Foundation Mini-Interview with Malia Movement
fearlessYoga at CXC Sundays | 9:30 - 11:00am Every Body welcome. Free for agents of social change. Donations welcome.
wellness & being well Community Needles
2011 Women's History Hero: Sarah Crowell
Several years ago, a friend suggested that the healthcare system in the US would benefit
resources for change‌ Girls, Inc. develops researched-based programs that encourage girls to take risks and master physical, intellectual, and emotional
from a little Chinese medicine, that ultimately the best thing for our healthcare system would be to integrate some of
challenges. There is also a focus on math and science education as well as pregnancy and drug abuse prevention. Media literacy,
the practices of Chinese medicine like acupuncture and
economic literacy, adolescent health, violence prevention and sports participation are also some of the topics that are focused
is get the body into balance.
on. Find your local Girls Inc. chapter. Girls Incorporated: Inspiring all girls to be strong, smart, and
herbal remedies, because the goal of Chinese medicine Read more... Find Community Acupuncture Network Near You The Berkeley Acupuncture Project Web site
bold
http://transform.transformativechange.org/files/journal/201109.html
Page 5 of 7
the transformation code | transform. | september 2011
LYRIC's mission is to build community and inspire positive social
9/13/11 11:00 AM
september wallpaper
change through education enhancement, career trainings, health promotion, and leadership development for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning youth, their families, and allies of all races, classes, genders and abilities. Learn more about LYRIC. LYRIC: Building Community & Inspiring Social Change for LGBTQQ Immigrant Youth Justice League (IYJL) is an organization based in Chicago that is led by undocumented youth. They work towards full recognition of all immigrants through education, leadership
nazar
development, policy advocacy, resource gathering, and mobilization. Read more about IYJL and their current activities.
believed to ward off the powers of the Evil Eye. seen
Immigrant Youth Justice League
nazar boncuguc (NAH-zhar BONE-joo-oo) is a talisman throughout the Mediterranean and especially in Turkey, the concentric circles are like a powerful deflector of the negative energy transmitted by an envious look.
Youth Speaks is where the voices of young people matter. The organizations puts youth in control of their intellectual and artistic development, placing particular emphasis on literacy. The Youth Speaks Web site has an abundance of information on programs and resources. Youth Speaks: Brave New Voices
the misleading word "evil" conjures up much more ominous notions in present day culture, but the meaning is closest to the word's old English roots, which means "overlooking" because the gaze has remained fixated on the coveted object, person or animal for too long. Nazarlik (NAH-zhar-luk) can be found in an endless number of forms as trinkets,
quote of the month
bracelets, necklaces, door hangings, rearview mirror amulets, even t-shirts and more. think of it mostly as a
"Guard your light and protect it. Move it forward into the world and be fully confident that if we connect light to light to light, and join the lights together of the one billion young people in our world today, we will be enough to set our whole planet aglow." —Hafsat Abiola, Human Rights Activist & Founder of KIND Learn more...
generous gift of protection to the recipient. photo copyright 2011. angel Kyodo williams
Download this image as wallpaper with or without calendar for your desktop. Download with calendar...
support deep change transform. is published by the Center for Transformative Change (CXC) CXC is the first national center entirely dedicated to bridging the inner and outer lives of social change agents, activists and allies to support a more effective, more sustainable social justice movement. We name, frame and advance Transformative Social Change by both developing practices and programs for agents of social change and working in collaboration with leading organizations to help shape this emerging movement. Most importantly, CXC reflects the field and the movement back to itself by publishing the transform. blog and monthly journal, thus strengthening our collective identity, community, and shared vision.
Download without calendar... View Photo Gallery...
connect | subscribe | share Connect facebook
YouTube
Subscribe get your own monthly issues of transform. Forward send this issue via email to a friend now Feedback editor@transformativechange.org Contribute how are you changing the WAY change is done?
http://transform.transformativechange.org/files/journal/201109.html
Page 6 of 7
the transformation code | transform. | september 2011
This long-term vision for shifting the paradigm of work for justice, changing the WAY change is done, will fundamentally alter broad-based social change at its very core—from inner to outer— resulting in a more just, equitable society for all. Great vision takes great action and our work is not possible without the generous support and partnership of individuals like you. The publication of transform. is made possible by your direct contribution. No amount is too small…so make your contribution to deep change today. Donate to CXC Visit the Center's website What is Transformative Change? Find out HERE
9/13/11 11:00 AM
how are you changing the WAY change is done? Registration and other questions 888.XSOCHANGE (toll free) register@transformativechange.org Center for Transformative Change 2584 MLK Jr. Way Berkeley, CA 94704 · USA +1.510.549.3733 Google the Center
Center for Transformative Change is a project of Transformative Change (formerly urbanPEACE), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization whose mission is to inform, incite and empower a broad-based, presence-centered, transformative social change movement.
Having trouble reading this email? Go to: http://transform.transformativechange.org/files/journal/201109.html
http://transform.transformativechange.org/files/journal/201109.html
Page 7 of 7